» ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES: Montana is coming off a 62-57 loss to North Dakota but UND had to rally from a nine-point second-half deficit to win.

The Grizzlies went more than 10 minutes without a field goal in one span, being outscored 18-1.

They’re led offensively by Kellie Cole’s 14.3 average and in the paint, Jordan Sullivan pulls down an average of 7.1 rebounds per game.

Montana has won three of its last four, and opened the season with a five-game win streak. They’re fourth in the conference behind UND, Montana State and Sacramento State.

» ABOUT THE BEARS: UNC went on the road for two BSC victories last weekend, but came home and played poorly in a conference loss to Montana State on Thursday night, shooting less than 30 percent from the floor in the second half.

The Bears have relied on the consistency of junior center Stephanie Lee, who leads the nation among scoring centers with a 21.1 average.

Sophomore guard Jamie Derrieux is also averaging double figures at 10.6 and the team’s leading rebounder is senior forwarde Kim Lockridge, averaging 6.4 per game.

» ABOUT THE BEARS: UNC is coming off a disappointing 70-55 road loss to Montana State, dropping from its perch atop the BSC standings. They now share the BSC lead with Montana State and Northern Arizona.

The Bears suffered offensively in the loss, but received 17 points from senior guard Tate Unruh and 14 from forward Tim Huskisson. Their offense pretty much ended there.

Huskisson also pulled down eight rebounds.

UNC played without foward Dominique Lee, who was in Greeley clearing up an academic problem. He’s expected to be in Missoula, Mont., for tonight’s game.

The Bears, ranked No. 14 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll, had won four straight before Thursday’s loss.

» ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES: Montana is coming off an 84-71 BSC victory over North Dakota on Thursday night in which Kareem Jamar scored a career-high 33 points. Juniors Keron DeShields and Jordan Gregory each had 11 in the victory.

The Grizzlies will battle UNC on the boards, a statistic the Bears emphasize.

The last time the two teams met, Montana sent UNC home from the BSC postseason tournament, winning the semifinal matchup 70-56.

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Stephanie Lee is on top of her game, which is good news for the University of Northern Colorado women’s basketball team.

The bad, or at the very least disturbing news is that the rest of the Bears are in between mediocre and top shelf.

In Thursday night’s Big Sky Conference loss to Montana State Universithy, Lee was the biggest part of the Bears’ offense.

She was good for 24 points, marking the 10th time in 14 games that she’s topped 20 points. She’s the top scoring center in the country and has drained 27 free throws in the last two games.

The hard facts indicate that the Bears have lost three straight at home for the first time since the 2008 season and White is still waiting for somebody to step up and play at a higher level on a consistent basis.

The operative word there is consistent.

The leading candidates are sophomore guard Jamie Derrieux, who battled foul trouble on Thursday night; junior forward Linday Mallon, who recorded a double-double in a road victory at Weber State last week; senior forward Kim Lockridge, who hauled down 10 rebounds on Thursday night.

A month ago, White expressed a concern that the Bears might rely too much on Lee, who is the BSC’s leading scorer with a 21.1 average.

After Thursday’s lackluster performance, her concern hadn’t changed.

“Absolutely,” White answered when asked if her squad could be relying on Lee too much.

“Absolutely,” White added. “I think Stef is somebody that everybody else is going to key on and we need somebody else to step up. And right now.”

It has happened at times. Against Weber State, senior forward Molly Duehn had 18 points and Mallon produced her double-double.

“Even in the Idaho State game, Jamie Derrieux has a double-double and Molly (Duehn) has 12 points,” White said.

Lockridge managed to pull down 10 rebounds Thursday night, which is welcome and needed, but White expects more of a scoring punch.

“We expect Kim (Lockridge) to get around 8 to 10 points, so she’s doing her job,” White explained. “But we’re not going to win with one person.”

White’s team knows that fact and when asked if there’s a possibility the rest of the cast is pressing too hard, White didn’t rule out the possibility.

“Maybe,” White said, adding “it is what it is. Somebody has to (step up). That’s the frustration.”

The Bears were a dismal 1 for 19 from 3-point range Thursday night, which led to just 28 percent from the floor in the second half.

UNC led by two at halftime, but didn’t respond well enough when losing its lead and going behind by 10.

“Yep,” White agreed. “To be real honest, we can’t get (points). If we do, our defense better step up to create our offense. We needed our offense to create some layups.”

Lee is gracious when discussing the matter, and the Bears’ mental makeup is to not point fingers but the situation calls for more production at both ends of the floor.